Credit Card Fraud Falls

9th October 2009

The amount of fraud being committed on all types of plastic cards, including credit and debit cards, across the United Kingdom fell in the first half of the year according to industry body Financial Fraud Action UK. Total card losses were some £233 million in the first six months of this year, a drop of 23% on both the first and second halves of last year.

Experts believe that fraudsters may have turned to targeting foreign-issued cards, particularly those without Chip and Pin protection. "The fact that we've seen a 36% increase in the first half of this year in the amount of fraud being committed on foreign-issued cards here in the UK adds some weight to this theory," said Katy Worobec, head of Fraud Control.

Chip and Pin cards were introduced by the UK banking and credit card companies in 2004 and total plastic card fraud fell in the two years that followed their introduction.

Card not present fraud, where a credit or debit card is used to make a purchase over the internet, by phone or mail order declined by 18% on the first half of 2008 largely due to the introduction of Mastercard Secure Code and Verified by Visa, where the credit card owner is asked to type in a second pin code at the point of purchase.